Monday, December 27, 2010

A new study by Iranian researchers at Isfahan University of Technology demonstrated that bone scaffolds acquire higher strengths, bioactivity and biodegradability once being coated by a nanocrystalline bioactive glass layer.

Fariborz Tavangarian in collaboration with S. I. Roohani Esfahani and R. Emadi came up with satisfying bioactivity and biodegradability in bone scaffolds of bio-active glass coated through an extensive research.

As a routine to examine bio activity/degradability, they placed the prepared bone scaffold samples in SBF (simulated body fluid) solutions for specific time intervals and studied the results by SEM and EDAX.

It is worthwhile to mention that the research group has pursued several related investigations on the topic prior to this.

Tissue engineering is aimed at repairing or regenerating the damaged tissues with the help of technological advancements. Scaffolds refer to special porous materials which accelerate the rate of tissue healing process. Once they are biodegradable, the scaffold structures are easily decomposed by the body and are replaced by the regenerated natural tissue eliminating an additional surgery to remove the implants.

Please see the Journal of Material Letters, volume 64, pages 1528-1531, 2010, for a detailed report on this research work.